13/04/2015 19:08

International media about Pope's speech about the Armenian Genocide. Part 3

The Guardian. Pope Francis calls Armenian slaughter 'genocide'

Pope Francis has described the mass killing of Armenians 100 years ago as a genocide, a politically explosive pronouncement that could damage diplomatic relations with Turkey.

During a special mass to mark the centenary of the mass killing, the pontiff referred to “three massive and unprecedented tragedies” of the past century. “The first, which is widely considered the first genocide of the twentieth century, struck your own Armenian people,” he said, quoting a declaration signed in 2001 by Pope John Paul II and Kerekin II, leader of the Armenian church.

“Bishops and priests, religious women and men, the elderly and even defenceless children and the infirm were murdered,” the pope said.

Historians estimatethat as many as 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a wave of violence that accompanied the fall of the Ottoman empire.

Despite the massacre being formally recognised as a genocide by Italy and a number of other countries,Turkey refuses to accept it as such.
Reports in Turkey on Sunday said the Vatican’s ambassador to Ankara had been summoned to the foreign ministry to explain the pope’s remarks.

Although the pope chose to quote a predecessor rather than speak in his own words, he told Armenians there was a duty to remember to killings.
“We recall the centenary of that tragic event, that immense and senseless slaughter whose cruelty your forebears had to endure. It is necessary, and indeed a duty, to honour their memory, for whenever memory fades, it means that evil allows wounds to fester,” he said in St Peter’s Basilica.

During the mass Pope Francis also declared a 10th-century Armenian monk, St Gregory of Narek, a “doctor of the church”. The mystic and poet is celebrated for his writings, some of which are still recited each Sunday in Armenian churches.

The pope was joined at the Vatican by a number of Armenian dignitaries, including the president, Serž Sargsyan, and the head of the Armenian Apostolic church, Karekin II.

Theo van Lint, a Calouste Gulbenkian professor of Armenian studies at the University of Oxford, said allowing Armenian leaders to speak in St Peter’s Basilica was a strategic move.

“I think it’s very important to realise he gave space to the leaders, the heads of the Armenian church and Armenian Catholics, to fully give their view of events. It’s very clear that the pope accepts that it is a genocide,” van Lint told the Guardian.

He said the pontiff’s decision to refer to the mass killing of Armenians along with crimes perpetrated by Nazism and Stalinism gave the Vatican’s “highest sanction” to genocide recognition.

Igor Dorfmann-Lazarev, a researcher on Armenian history and culture at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, said the ceremony demonstrated the pope’s efforts to put periphery Christian groups at the centre of the Catholic church.

“This is the first time that Armenia is the centre of attention of Catholic life and the Christian world. It’s meant to draw attention to the Christian east,” he said.

Francis’s use of the word “genocide” was unlikely to change relations between Armenia and Turkey, Dorfmann-Lazarev said, although it would raise diplomatic concerns at the Vatican.

The Independent. Turkey outrage after Pope Francis describes Armenian mass killing by Ottoman soldiers as 'genocide'

Pope Francis has called the killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks “the first genocide of the 20th century,” as media reports emerge that Turkish leaders tried to stop him saying it.

The Pope said it was his duty to honour the memory of the innocent men, women, children, priests and bishops who were "senselessly slaughtered" by Ottoman Turks in 1915.

"It is necessary, and indeed a duty, to honour their memory, for whenever memory fades, it means that evil allows wounds to fester. Concealing or denying evil is like allowing a wound to keep bleeding without bandaging it," he said at the start of a Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Basilica honouring the centenary.

The move comes after the Turkish media suggested that Turkey has been working behind the scenes to discourage Francis from using the term genocide at today's mass.

Turkish leaders have also allegedly led another campaign to stop the papal Mass being celebrated on the actual anniversary of the killings, 24 April.

The Pope has close ties to the Armenian community from his days in Argentina, and defended his pronouncement by citing the estimate made by historians that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey, however, refuses to call it a genocide and has insisted that the toll has been inflated; Turkey's embassy to the Holy See cancelled a planned news conference later today.

The Armenians have been campaigning for greater recognition of the genocide in the lead-up to the centenary, which will be formally marked on 24 April.

Sunday's Mass was also celebrated by the Armenian Catholic patriarch, Nerses Bedros XIX Tarmouni, and was attended by Armenian Orthodox church leaders as well as Armenian President, Serzh Sargsyan.

Pope Francis honoured the Armenian community at the start of the Mass by pronouncing a 10th-century Armenian mystic, St. Gregory of Narek, a doctor of the church.

Euronews. Pope Francis refers to ‘genocide’ over WWI massacre of Armenians

Pope Francis has quoted the word “genocide” in referring to the mass killings of Armenians 100 years ago, under Ottoman rule in World War I.
His phrase, which it is thought may anger Turkey, came as the Vatican held a mass attended by Armenia’s president and senior religious figures.

Ankara has consistently denied that the killings were genocide and strongly protested when the pope used the term two years ago.
“In the last century, our human family lived through three massive and unprecedented tragedies,” Pope Francis said. “The first, which is widely considered ‘the first genocide of the 20th century’, struck your own Armenian people.”

Armenia and many historians say up to one and a half million people were systematically killed by Ottoman forces in 1915.

Argentina, Belgium, Canada, France, Italy, Russia and Uruguay are among more than 20 countries which have formally recognised what happened to the Armenians as genocide.

The European Parliament and certain other international institutions have done likewise.

Turkey accepts that many Armenian Christians were killed in partisan fighting, but argues that the number who died was much smaller. It claims that as many Turks were killed in what were World War I battles, in which Armenian paramilitary groups rose up against Ottoman rulers and sided with invading Russian troops.

Last year Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then Turkey’s prime minister, offered condolences to the grandchildren of Armenians killed in the First World War, but said it was unacceptable to use the events as “a matter of political conflict”.

Turkey has said it will accept the proposition of an international commission of historians on the highly contentious question.

Deutsche Welle. Turkey calls back its ambassador to the Vatican

Turkey has called back its envoy to the Vatican after Pope Francis described the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as "the first genocide of the 20th century." Ankara has long denied that the deaths amounted to genocide. The pope's comment had caused "a problem of trust," a Turkish official said on Sunday. He emphasized that his country was "deeply sorry and disappointed" that Pope Francis had called the 1915 mass killings of Armenians during the Ottoman Empire a genocide. Later on Sunday, Turkey called back its ambassador to the Vatican for consultation, according to the Foreign Ministry in Ankara.

Pope Francis made the declaration earlier on Sunday during a Mass in Rome's Saint Peter's Basilica marking the 100th anniversary of the slaughter, prompting Turkey to summon the Vatican ambassador to seek an explanation.

In a statement following this meeting, Turkey said that the pope's comment contradicted his message of peace and dialogue delivered during his visit to Turkey in November. The statement also criticized the pope's remarks because he only mentioned the pains suffered by Christian Armenians and not Muslims or other religious groups.

The first of 'three massive and unprecedented genocides'

The message was received with gratitude by Armenian representatives.

"We are deeply grateful to His Holiness Pope Francis for the idea of this unprecedented liturgy...which symbolizes our solidarity with the people of the Christian world," said Armenian President Serzh Sargyan in a speech. The head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Aram I, also thanked the Pope for his clear condemnation.

The 78-year-old head of the Roman Catholic Church described the mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as the first of three "massive and unprecedented" genocides last century, followed by the Holocaust and Stalinism.

Ankara acknowledges that many Christian Armenians died in clashes with the Ottoman soldiers beginning in 1915, when Armenia was part of the empire ruled from Istanbul, but denies that hundreds of thousands were killed and that this amounted to genocide.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered condolences for the mass killings for the first time in 2014, when he was prime minister. However, the country still blames unrest and famine for many of the deaths.

Comparisons between Armenians and Christians persecuted by IS

Although the killings were not openly driven by religious motives, the pope drew comparisons between the Armenian victims, who were Christians, and modern Christian refugees fleeing Islamic militants. He said genocide continued today against Christians "who, on account of their faith in Christ or their ethnic origin, are publicly and ruthlessly put to death - decapitated, crucified, burned alive - or forced to leave their homeland."

The pope referred to "Islamic State" (IS) militants persecuting Christians and members of other religious communities who do not share their ultra-radical interpretation of Sunni Islam.

However, Francis is not the first pope to call the massacre in the Ottoman Empire a genocide. In his remarks, he cited a declaration signed by John Paul II and the Armenian church leader Karenkin II from 2001, describing the mass killings of Armenians as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Haaretz. Turkey summons Vatican envoy after Pope describes Armenian 'genocide'

Turkey told the Vatican's ambassador on Sunday it was "deeply sorry and disappointed" that Pope Francis had called the 1915 mass killings in Armenia a genocide, an official said, adding the pope's comments had caused a "problem of trust."

Turkey also called its ambassador to the Vatican back to Ankara for consultation, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.

The pope made the comments earlier in the day during a Mass marking the 100th anniversary of the killings.

Muslim Turkey accepts that many Christian Armenians died in clashes with Ottoman soldiers beginning in 1915, when Armenia was part of the empire ruled from Istanbul, but denies hundreds of thousands were killed and that this amounted to genocide.

Francis, who has close ties to the Armenian community from his days in Argentina, defended his pronouncement by saying it was his duty to honor the memory of the innocent men, women, children, priests and bishops who were "senselessly" murdered.

Turkey's embassy to the Holy See had canceled a planned press conference for Sunday, presumably after learning that the pope would utter the word "genocide" over its objections.

This was not the first time that the Pope has spoken out over the Armenia genocide. In 2013, at a meeting with Catholicos Patriarch of Cilicia of the Armenian Catholics at the Vatican, he declared: "The first genocide of the 20th century was that of the Armenians."

In 2006, before he became pontiff, he urged Turkey to recognize the genocide as the “gravest crime of Ottoman Turkey against the Armenian people and the entire humanity.”

Historians estimate that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War I, an event widely viewed by genocide scholars as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Several European countries recognize the massacres as genocide, though Italy and the United States have avoided using the term officially given the importance they place on Turkey as an ally.